Tudor timeline

Here is a timeline for Tudor Britain, from Henry VII’s victory at Bosworth in 1485, to the death of his granddaughter, Elizabeth I, in 1603.

1485Henry Tudor becomes King Henry VII of England after his victory at the Battle of Bosworth.|1487Lambert Simnel challenges for the throne, pretending to be the son of Edward IV. The rebels are defeated at the Battle of East Stoke and Simnel is given a job in the royal kitchens.|1492In a wider context – Christopher Columbus arrives in the Bahamas instead of Japan.|1495University of Aberdeen founded.|1497Commissioned by Henry VII, John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto, a Venetian) discovers Newfoundland.|1503James IV of Scotland marries Margaret, daughter of Henry VII of England.|1509Henry VIII marries Katherine of Aragon and becomes king of England.|1512England at war with France and Scotland.|1513Scotland invades England and is defeated at the Battle of Flodden. James IV of Scotland is among those killed.
|1517In a wider context, in Wittenberg, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Thesis to the door of All Saints’ Church, or the Schlosskirche, questioning excesses and corruption in the Roman Catholic Church.|1522-25England at war with France.|1526In Worms, Germany, John Tyndale publishes a translation of the New Testament in English.|1528England at war with Spain.|1529Henry VIII seizes Hampton Court from Cardinal Wolsey.|1530Death of Cardinal Wolsey.|1533Archbishop Thomas Cranmer annuls Henry VIII's marriage with Katherine of Aragon and Henry marries Anne Boleyn.|1534The Act of Supremacy - Henry becomes Head of the Church of England - the official start of the English Reformation.|1535The dissolution of monasteries in England begins. Sir Thomas More is executed.|1536Anne Boleyn is executed. Henry VIII marries Jane Seymour.The Pilgrimage of Grace – a rebellion, particularly in Yorkshire, against Henry VIII’s religious reforms.The Act of Union between England and Wales. |1537Jane Seymour dies having given birth to a son, the future King Edward VI.
|1539Publication of Henry VIII’s Great Bible in English.|1540Henry VIII marries and divorces Anne of Cleves. Thomas Cromwell, principal architect of the Reformation, is executed. Henry marries Kathryn Howard, his 5th wife.|1541Henry VIII makes himself King of Ireland.|1542The English defeat an invading Scottish army at Solway Moss.Kathryn Howard is executed.|1543-51The rough wooing - Henry's violent and failed attempt to force an alliance with Scotland by marrying his son Edward to the future Mary, Queen of Scots.|1543England at war with France. Henry VIII marries for the last time - Katherine Parr survives him.|1547Henry VIII dies. Edward VI becomes King of England. The new king is determined to reform the English church and make it more Protestant.|1549The First Act of Uniformity establishes the Book of Common Prayer, a standard form of worship across England and Wales.|1553Edward VI dies. Lady Jane Grey was uncrowned Queen for 9 days before Mary, the daughter of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon, comes to the throne. Mary is determined to return England to Roman Catholicism. Protestants begin to be persecuted.|1554Mary marries the King of Spain, Philip II.The Wyatt Rebellion – arising from fear that England would be ruled by Spain. Lady Jane Grey is executed as a precaution.|1555Prominent Protestant churchmen Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley burned at the stake.|1556Former Archbishop Cranmer burned at the stake.|1557War with France.|1558Calais is taken by the French; England no longer has any territory in France. Mary dies. Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, becomes Queen Elizabeth I of England.|1559Enthusiastic Protestant John Knox returns to Scotland from exile. In England, the Book of Common Prayer once again becomes the only legal form of worship; the Catholic mass is henceforth illegal.|1562Captain John Hawkins sells African slaves in the Caribbean.|1566Murder of Rizzio, Mary, Queen of Scots’ secretary, in the Palace of Holyrood, Edinburgh.|1567Mary, Queen of Scots is imprisoned in Loch Leven Castle.|1568Mary, Queen of Scots, defeated at the Battle of Langside, escapes to England.|1569Northern rebellion in England.|1570The Pope declares Queen Elizabeth a heretic and excommunicates her.|1572Francis Drake raids the Spanish Main.|1576Sir Martin Frobisher searches for the North West Passage.|1579-83Rebellion in Ireland.|1580Francis Drake returns to England having circumnavigated the world.|1583University of Edinburgh founded.|1584Colonisation of Virginia. Queen Elizabeth grants Walter Raleigh a charter authorising exploration and colonisation of remote, heathen and barbarous lands.|1586Walter Raleigh introduces tobacco, maize and potatoes to Britain (it is possible that tobacco, at least, was known in this country before then).|1587Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots at Fotheringhay Castle as a consequence of being implicated in the Babington Plot, one of several plans to assassinate Elizabeth and replace her with Mary.|1588The Spanish Armada – an attempted invasion of England is thwarted by a combination of better leadership and bad weather.|c1590First performance of Shakespeare's plays - possibly Henry VI, Parts I, 2 and 3.|1600British East India Company receives its charter.|1601Earl of Essex rebellion|1603Elizabeth I dies. The English throne is offered to James VI of Scotland, who becomes James I of England and the first King of Great Britain.